A Future Miral
by zoemhi
Summary: Miral is whisked away into the future to receive some very special training. The future depends on it...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Paramount owns all the Voyager stuff. Jennifer, Ensign Taylor, Admiral Hadit, Admiral Goëghenschweiler, Philly Dorflick, and all the extra people are mine. So don't take them...or my idea. I heard somewhere that people from TV shows in general check out fanfiction websites for ideas. So if you're thinking of doing that, then this stuff is mine! (c) Zoe! Take that! :)  
Jennifer lifted her head off her desk, and forced her eyes open sleepily. She glanced back at what she had been doing.  
"No!"  
Jennifer stared down at the half-finished paper on her desk. She shook her head. She'd have to ask for an extension. That's all there was to it. She stared up at the ceiling and gathered her wavy, chocolate-colored hair into a ponytail, and looked around for something to put it up with. Not seeing anything, she let it fall back down, to just past her shoulders. She sighed; knowing that that was easier said than done...there was no way she would get an extension on that paper. Not from Tuvok, anyway.  
Someone was at the door. That's what had woken her up. Her door beeped again, and she stood up. Not having a rank meant standing whenever anyone entered the room. Not that she didn't have a rank, she did. In fact, she ranked higher than anyone else on board the ship. They just didn't know that yet.  
"Come in."  
Kathryn Janeway entered the room, smiling. "Hi! Are you busy?"  
"I was working on my paper for Commander Tuvok, but...I fell asleep. Have a seat." Jennifer replied.  
"Well, I just wanted to congratulate you, Admiral," said Kathryn, sitting down on Jennifer's couch.  
"On what?" Jennifer asked her.  
"Getting here in one piece, for one thing...actually being able to deliver the message you came to deliver...deceiving my entire crew. And now, you're working on a paper for Tuvok already!"  
Jennifer let herself smile slightly. She was the youngest Starfleet admiral ever, and nobody knew except Kathryn and the Doctor. What was the use of being a sixteen-year-old admiral if you couldn't tell anyone? She had traveled undercover on a time ship to deliver a highly classified message to Kathryn from Starfleet command. They hadn't wanted to risk being intercepted on a transmission. Jennifer had skimmed through several ion storms and a couple of centuries. Then she had had to make the entire crew believe that she had escaped from the Borg along with several other drones, had them remove her implants, deactivated the other drones in case of treachery, and stolen the time ship which had taken them there. She had feigned asking for asylum, and the captain, having heard about this mission already through an encoded message from a future Starfleet, feigned granting it.  
Jennifer hopped onto her desk, and sat there cross-legged.   
"Thanks...but I don't deserve congratulations. I'm used to working under pressure. Anyway, the paper's not too difficult, given my experiences. Just long...very long. And Kathryn, how many times are you going to make me tell you to call me Jen? One of these days, someone's going to walk in on you calling me Admiral, and all hopes of success on this mission will be lost. And if that day ever comes, I will relieve you of duty if it is the last thing I do." Jennifer frowned.  
Kathryn laughed at Jennifer's words.  
"What?" asked Jennifer, a little bit annoyed. "You don't think I would relieve you of duty?"  
"Oh, I don't doubt you could relieve me of duty. I'm just highly doubtful that with you on the bridge, it's possible for us to fail."  
"I'm flattered." Jennifer rolled her eyes. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to get done. And I don't mean my paper."  
"You're not working on another assignment for Starfleet?"  
"Classified information, Captain." Jennifer grinned. "You don't know how much fun it is to say that."  
Kathryn pretended to sigh. "You're right. I'm just a lowly captain, after all. No classified information for me."  
Jennifer's door beeped again.  
"Yeah, come on in, Miral."  
The door opened, and Tom Paris entered with his nine-year-old daughter, Miral.  
"Hi, Jen...I know we're a little early, but Miral's been looking forward to this all week, and I figured it would be okay with you..." Tom said, in a rush. He turned around and saw the captain. "Captain! I didn't realize you were going to be here..."  
"I wasn't. I dropped in to talk to Jennifer for a few minutes, but I think we're done here."  
"Well, that's good to know. So it is okay that we're early?"   
"Relax, Tom, it's fine. Miral and I are going to go have a little fun, aren't we, Miral?" Jennifer said, kneeling down by Miral.  
"But what're we going to do, Jennie?" asked Miral, curiously.  
"We're going for a ride in my ship," Jennifer replied. "I'm going to show you something very special."  
"Oh...B'Elanna says to have Miral back by dinner, but it's okay. You can keep her out as late as you want. It doesn't really matter," Tom said.  
Jennifer nodded and took Miral's hand. "Come on, Miral...let's go!"  
"Jen, this isn't going to work," said Kathryn suddenly.  
Jennifer turned around and stared at Kathryn warningly. "What?"  
"This isn't going to work."  
"What're you talking about?"  
"Tom...could you take Miral outside and excuse us for a minute?"  
"Sure..." Tom said, confused.  
Once Tom left, Kathryn sighed. "Jen...you know it won't work. We have to tell the senior officers."  
"Why?"  
"Because it involves two of my senior officers' daughter...and I'm not about to let you do this unless they know. Understand?"  
"You should know better than to try and give me orders, Kathryn. Even indirectly."  
"Well...I mean...is that okay? Is it going to cause your plan to fail?"  
"No. We anticipated dubiousness and worked out a few backup plans in case we had to tell everyone. But they're expecting me back not too long from now. But let's keep it to senior officers, if you don't mind. And Neelix doesn't have to know. Neither does Seven."  
"But-"  
"Don't make me order you, Kathryn."  
Kathryn tapped her comm. badge once. "All senior officers and Miral please report to the briefing room immediately." She tapped her comm. badge again to end the transmission and rolled her eyes at Jennifer. "I resent being given orders by a sixteen-year old. Seven of Nine is one of my best officers. I'd feel better if I could tell her."  
Jennifer just smiled and shook her head for 'no'. She and Kathryn beamed themselves there and waited for everyone else in silence. 


	2. Chapter 2

Chakotay, Tuvok and Harry, having been on duty on the bridge, entered first, followed by B'Elanna, and finally, Tom with Miral at his side.  
Miral ran up to Jennifer who, by now, was now talking in a low, constant whisper to Kathryn, and tugged on her hand.  
"Jennie! Why aren't we going yet?"  
Jennifer smiled nervously. "Miral, there's something I have to tell everyone first."  
"A surprise?"  
Jennifer nodded. "A surprise."  
"Captain Kathy! Jennie has a surprise for us! Will I like it?" said Miral, excitedly.  
"I think you'll like it very much," said Kathryn, wishing she could say the same for Miral's parents.  
"Now...why don't you go sit by your mom for a little bit? I have to talk to Captain Kathy for a minute before we get started, okay?"  
"Okay!" Miral skipped over to B'Elanna, who patted the empty seat next to her and smiled at Tom over Miral's head.  
"You know," said Kathryn gazing at them, "They have got to be my favorite couple ever. Even over Chakotay and Seven...and I love Chakotay and Seven. Strange, isn't it? Everyone's pairing off, and I, the only person on board Voyager who was engaged when we left, can't."  
"Kathryn, as much as I would love to carry on with this conversation, we seriously have to talk."  
"What about?"  
"How we're going to tell them?" said Jennifer, frustrated, her voice rising. "Something like that? I mean, what are we going to say? Hi, everyone...I'm from the future. I'm the youngest admiral around, and I need Miral for the next ten years because she plays an important part in the history of time?"  
The room was silent. Every pair of eyes was staring at Jennifer.  
"What," asked Tom, slowly, from across the room, "Are you talking about?"  
Jennifer cursed under her breath.  
"What do you mean?" Kathryn asked.  
"We're not deaf, Captain. Why does she need Miral?" asked B'Elanna, furiously clutching her daughter's hand.  
"I need to take her into your future and train her." Jennifer said.  
"Train her for what?" asked B'Elanna.  
"I can't tell you that."  
"Why not?" Chakotay demanded.  
"It's classified."  
Kathryn stepped forward. "I know why."  
Jennifer glared at her. "Kathryn, you tell them, and I swear I will have Starfleet send me back to the day and place you were born and shoot you with a phazer set to kill the moment I lay eyes on you. I have worked too hard on this mission for you to completely screw it up now, when it's almost over."  
A low gasp went around the room.  
"You will not talk to Captain Janeway like that when you are on board this vessel," Tuvok said fiercely.  
"I will talk to Captain Janeway however I want because I outrank her and I could take over this ship in ten seconds flat, and she knows that," Jennifer said, just as fiercely.  
"Tuvok to security," Tuvok said, tapping his comm. badge.  
"Iowae to Starfleet Headquarters, San Francisco, 2783," Jennifer said, tapping hers.  
"Stop it, you two," said Kathryn. "Admiral, if you want to go ahead and work through this plan, then these people need the whole story. Understand?"  
"Delay that," Tuvok and Jennifer said at the same time.   
"What have I told you about giving me orders?" asked Jennifer. She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. I will tell you as much as I can without getting shot the instant I go home."  
Kathryn nodded.  
"I'm from the year 2783...that's about four centuries after right now. I became the youngest Starfleet admiral in history just under a year ago. I was born on a Starfleet vessel and have lived on one since...I think I was promoted straight from crewman to lieutenant commander when I was eleven, and I was a captain commanding vessels at the age of fourteen. About two months ago, I was given my first classified mission...this one. It has extensive involvement with Miral. She plays...or will play...a significant part in my time period. I can't tell you what that part is, because as much as I'd love to, it's classified. And I can't. I can tell you, however, that it has to do with a parallel universe. My mission is to pick up Miral, take her to the twenty eighth century, train her for what she will encounter later in her life, and drop her back into her time period, about five minutes later. She will find, later in life, that although she doesn't remember any of this, she will inexplicably know things. When Miral turns nineteen, ten years from now, she will come across a temporal wormhole that will lead her to 2781, where she will perform several actions that will heavily affect the lives of everyone in that time period, and then return to her own and live the rest of her life in peace. The question is: will she perform the actions that will result in the future I know...or will she perform the actions that will result in the future that I should know? It all depends on whether or not she gets her training."  
No one spoke for a minute.  
Then Tom said, "Wow, Miral. The savior of a race and you'll somehow affect the future. How could I ask for more?" He gave her a quick hug, and turned to B'Elanna. "B'Elanna. You know better than anyone that if we don't let Miral go, future events will be changed. We have to let her do this."  
"Captain..." B'Elanna said, "Can we trust her?"  
Kathryn nodded. "It's your decision to make, but...yes. Yes, I think we can trust her."  
"Miral?" asked B'Elanna, "Do you want to do this? Are you comfortable with it?"  
Miral laughed at B'Elanna's suspicious attitude. "Of course...it's Jennie...it's not like she's a stranger, Mom!"  
"Okay." B'Elanna said, quietly.  
"Okay?" asked Tom, to confirm it.  
"Okay." B'Elanna nodded.  
Harry was still staring at Jennifer open-mouthed, as he had been all through her story. "So...you went from being a crewman to being an admiral, all in five years? Can I do that?" 


	3. Chapter 3

Jennifer focused on getting her ship ready for a test flight. She needed to teach Miral how to operate the equipment in case...well, in case anything happened on their journey back to her home. She had very nearly gotten herself killed on the way there...but she didn't need to worry about it anymore. She was there.  
"Computer," said Jennifer, "Power up the engines and prepare for departure."  
"Unable to comply," the computer said.  
"State reasons."  
"Faulty deflector array."  
"Override."  
"Unable to comply."  
"State reasons," Jennifer said patiently.  
"Authorization code required."  
Jennifer sighed. She didn't want to give it her authorization codes, but it looked like she might have to. "Computer, override faulty deflector array and prepare for departure."  
"Unable to comply."  
"State reasons," Jennifer said, on end.  
"Authorization code required."  
"Argh!" Jennifer screamed.  
"Access denied," the computer said. "Lockout in progress."  
"Computer!" Jennifer said frantically, "Delay lockout! Authorization Jen Gamma Nineteen!"  
"Unable to comply," said the computer smugly. "Lockout in progress."  
"Computer, disable voice command system and delay lockout."  
The computer beeped twice to show that it had done so.  
Jennifer spun around. Miral was laughing at her from the door. Jennifer relaxed and smiled.  
"Thanks. Is there any way we can get that deflector array back up in an hour?"  
Miral shrugged and walked over to an engineering panel. "Try rerouting power from the replicators to the deflector. From what I can tell, it should begin regenerating itself immediately and be done in about forty-three minutes. In the meantime, we can install new gel packs for the deflector, because its gel packs are burned out, which is why it's not working, and then we'll just reroute the power from the replicators' gel packs back to the replicators."  
Jennifer stared. "You've been hanging around Engineering too long," she said. "But that might actually be a good thing for the mission they have you on. You'll need to know stuff like that. Do you know how to reroute power from the replicators?"  
"No, but I think I can figure it out," said Miral, tapping a few buttons on the panel. "There. It's regenerating."  
"Wow, Miral," said Jennifer. "If I'm not careful, you'll be the youngest admiral ever, hmm?"  
Miral laughed.  
Jennifer tapped her comm. badge. "Jen to B'Elanna."  
"Yes, Jen. What do you need?"  
"I need six gel packs for my ship, the ones supplying power to my deflector are burned out. Do you have enough spare?"  
"Yes, I do. Do you want me to send someone up there? Is Miral with you?"  
"Yes, she's right here. Don't send anyone, B'Elanna. I'll be down there in a few minutes. Jen out."  
"Miral, will you stay here while I go get the gel packs? See if you can figure out where they go, okay? I'll tell you if you're right when I get back."  
Miral nodded and tapped away at the engineering panel.  
Jennifer beamed herself down to Engineering and went over to the station where B'Elanna was supervising one of her crewmen. She looked up.  
"Jen. Crewman, would you go get me six spare gel packs?"  
The crewman nodded, and walked off.  
"Jen, you're not telling us everything. What's going on?" asked B'Elanna.  
"B'Elanna, I've told you as much as I can. Seriously, I can't say any more." Jennifer was getting exasperated now.  
"Why not?"  
"You know what I threatened Kathryn with today in the briefing room that caused Tuvok to contact security?"  
"Yes. But I don't see how that's relevant," B'Elanna said.  
"Well...that would be exactly what Starfleet said to me right before I left. So no. I won't tell you."  
"There's nothing else you can tell me?"  
Jennifer sighed. "Fine. I'll contact Starfleet and tell them we have one very persistent parent. When does your duty shift end?"  
"Twelve-hundred hours."  
"I'll meet you in front of holodeck one. Wear a suit."  
"What's a suit?"  
"Just say 'one light gray women's suit and tan tights' to your replicator. It'll know what it means. And specify the color...if you don't say anything then it'll do blue, the default, and if you wear your Starfleet boots with it, then people will stare. We're going to the Café De Proë."  
"What's the Café De Proë?"  
"You very obviously do not live in the same century as me. I travel back to the end of the twenty-first century regularly to go to the Café De Proë. It's one of the most popular places for a business lunch. Everyone knows that the end of the twenty-first century is the best place to go for a meal."  
B'Elanna gave her an odd look but nodded. The crewman returned with the gel packs just then, and Jennifer nodded at B'Elanna and beamed herself back to her ship.  
Miral stood in front of a pile of burned out gel packs, waiting for Jennifer to get back.  
"So you did figure out where they went. I have to congratulate you, because it took me a week!"  
Miral grinned. "All I had to do was figure out where the deflector array used to be drawing power from. And there it was. It would have been more difficult for me to do if the deflector array had been functioning."  
Jennifer laughed. "Let me just install the gel packs and then I'll be ready for us to leave on our test flight. Do you want to go get your daddy for me?"  
"Okay." Miral looked over her shoulder. "By the way, I predicted the time it would take for the deflector to regenerate wrong. It's done."  
Jennifer nodded. "Then tell your dad that I'm ready to leave whenever he is. Actually, no, just go wait on the bridge with Captain Kathie for a little bit, okay? See if you can persuade her to let you sit in her chair. I'll be right down there."  
Miral laughed and ran off in the direction of the turbo lifts.  
As soon as she had gone, Jennifer beamed herself back to her quarters and packed her things. Starfleet may contact her at any time now, and they would only give her half an hour's notice, and she had to be ready to leave because they wouldn't tell her twice. She had already made that mistake once, and she wasn't going to do it again. She replicated some civilian clothes in Miral's size and packed those too. She knew B'Elanna would stretch out the task of packing Miral's clothes as far as she could, and Jennifer was on a tight schedule and couldn't afford to play games with B'Elanna.  
She tapped her comm. badge. "Starfleet Headquarters, San Francisco, 2783. Starfleet Headquarters, please respond."  
"Starfleet Headquarters here."  
"Who is this?"  
"Ensign Taylor."  
"Ensign Taylor, this is Admiral Iowae. I'm sending you encoded frequencies for visual contact." The image of the ensign popped up on Jennifer's screen. "I need you to get me either Admiral Goëghenschweiler or Admiral Hadit immediately. Actually, get me both of them."  
"B-but Admiral Hadit is at home sick and Admiral Goëghenschweiler's taking two weeks off," stuttered the ensign.  
"Is Admiral Hadit dying?" asked Jennifer.  
"No."  
"No, what?" asked Jennifer. She hated people who gave her any less respect than any of the other admirals because of her age.  
"No, ma'am," the ensign said hastily.  
"Then I'm sure you can pull him out of bed for me. There's a sickbay two decks below your feet so if Admiral Hadit becomes violently ill while talking to me he won't have too far to go. Where's Admiral Goëghenschweiler?"  
"She's on vacation Jovéyari Prime, ma'am, and I don't want to pull her out of it because she said she wanted to relax..."  
"Ensign Taylor."  
"Yes, ma'am."  
"I don't care if Admiral Goëghenschweiler is lying on a beach in Jovéyari Prime in a bikini, I want her back here in five minutes, understood?"  
"Yes ma'am."  
"Are you at a panel with multiple transmissions enabled?"  
"No ma'am, I am not."  
"Then enable multiple transmissions!" exclaimed Jennifer, annoyed.  
"Yes, ma'am. They're enabled, ma'am."  
"Do you seriously not know what I'm going to say next?"  
"Contact Admirals Goëghenschweiler and Hadit, ma'am?"  
"Yes, Ensign. Contact them. Tell them Admiral Iowae said they're needed back at Headquarters immediately. Understood?"  
"Yes, ma'am."  
"Contact me when they're there. If you don't contact me within half an hour, I'll contact you."  
"Yes ma'am."  
"Iowae out." Jennifer tapped her comm. badge again to end the transmission.  
Five minutes later Kathryn contacted her from the bridge.  
"Jen, there is a transmission for you...a man and a woman. We can't pinpoint the location, but the woman says you'll know who it is."  
"Thank you, Kathryn...route it here. Jen out."  
In a moment, the images of Admiral Goëghenschweiler and Admiral Hadit flashed on to Jennifer's screen. Admiral Goëghenschweiler was very tan and healthy, but Admiral Hadit looked pale and wasn't in uniform.  
"This better be good, Jen," he said.  
"You're fine," Jennifer said, rolling her eyes. "You can't fool me."  
"I'm not fine," snapped Admiral Hadit, "I'm sick. And I'm contagious. And I shouldn't be here." He sneezed, as if to prove it. Admiral Goëghenschweiler shifted slightly away from Admiral Hadit.  
"B'Elanna Torres wants to know more," Jennifer blurted out.  
"She can't find out any more," said Admiral Goëghenschweiler, bluntly.  
"I know that, Christine. I need an alibi."  
"An alibi. Tell her Miral will...um...fight in a war."  
"And that's going to make her say she'll let her go because...?" asked Jennifer.  
"She's Klingon...war and Klingon go together, wouldn't you say?" Admiral Goëghenschweiler suggested.  
"Yes. Klingon and war go together. B'Elanna and war do not. B'Elanna hates everything Klingon. So I wouldn't really suggest a celebration in honor of her ancestors, either."  
"Say that Miral will successfully use diplomacy to avoid a war," Admiral Goëghenschweiler said.  
"Enough with the war already!" exclaimed Jennifer.  
"Fine!" said Admiral Goëghenschweiler.  
Admiral Hadit stared at Jennifer. "Tell her the truth," he said.  
"Brian."  
"What?"  
"Were you not there when Starfleet threatened me with death?" asked Jennifer.  
"Starfleet, Schmarfleet! This is our mission, and no one's going to take that away from us. We're all admirals, and I think we are responsible enough to do exactly what we want with this mission," Admiral Hadit replied. "Tell her!"  
"Christine, what do you think?"  
"Who's in command of this mission?"   
"Sarah Leroy."  
Admiral Goëghenschweiler tapped her comm. badge. "Goëghenschweiler to Leroy."  
"Leroy here."  
"We have to tell Miral's mother the truth, is that okay?"  
"Yes, Admiral Goëghenschweiler. If you must, you must. Is that all?"  
"Yes."  
"Goëghenschweiler out."  
Admiral Goëghenschweiler looked back at Jennifer. "Is that all you needed?"  
"Yes, it is. Thanks, Christine. Brian, you can go back to bed now."  
Admiral Hadit rolled his eyes and left.  
"Jennifer, this place is so much quieter without you here. I love it!" Admiral Goëghenschweiler said.  
Jennifer laughed. "Thanks, Christine, I love you too!"  
Admiral Goëghenschweiler smiled. "Actually, I think Ms. Dorflick is bored. She has no one to be ditzy with."  
"So send her off on a deep space mission," said Jennifer, smiling.  
Jennifer and Philly Dorflick had been best friends for as long as she could remember. They had been born on the same ship, Philly a couple of years before Jennifer, and had lived on Jupiter Station Children's Facility for the majority of their lives, while their parents had been off doing deep space assignments or classified work that they couldn't tear themselves away from for more than a few hours at a time. They had flown through the ranks together, until Jennifer completed one assignment that got her promoted to Admiral, while Philly was still a captain. They usually worked on the same assignments, but Jennifer had had to take this one, it had been too good to pass up, and Philly hadn't had the opportunity to take it. It was all top-secret. No one below the rank of admiral was involved.  
Jennifer could totally see how Philly could be bored. No assignment, no training programs, no best friend.  
Admiral Goëghenschweiler grinned. "I was thinking about that...even if it was just to keep her occupied. But I don't think she would accept any that would prevent her from being here when you get back."  
"That's good to know," said Jennifer. "After all the times I've died, the girl still won't give up on me." She laughed.  
Admiral Goëghenschweiler laughed, too. "No. Admiral Iowae, I have to go finish my week and a half of vacation now. So I'll see you when I get back. Or when you get back. Whichever comes first."  
Jennifer nodded. "Okay, Admiral," she said, regaining all formalities in preparation to end the conversation. "Iowae out."  
Jennifer pushed a button to end the transmission, and then contacted Tom.  
"Paris here."  
"This is Jen. I need to talk to you and B'Elanna on the holodeck. Wear a suit and bring Miral."  
"Twentieth century attire? What's going on?"  
"You'll see. B'Elanna already knows, but remind her. I know how busy she can get in Engineering. Tell her I'll make sure nothing happens while she's gone and that if something does happen, there's a team of engineers from my century waiting to be transported here to fix it."  
Tom laughed. "It's okay, Jen. We'll be there. We won't forget. Twenty minutes?"  
"Sounds good."  
"Great. Paris out."  
Jennifer nodded, and replicated herself a light beige silk suit, which she would wear with pumps of the same color. The Café De Proë was usually full, so they wouldn't look suspicious. And in any case, she had enough experience avoiding suspicion.  
She took fifteen minutes to get dressed. Too long...but she still wasn't familiar with Voyager's "antiquated" state-of-the-art technology, and that was her excuse to herself. In her own century, Jennifer could have been dressed and ready to go in less than three minutes. It had been part of her training, as it would be part of Miral's.  
Jennifer headed for the holodeck. Tom and B'Elanna were already waiting for her along with Miral, in front of it. They looked twenty-first century enough, decided Jennifer. Anyway, if anything went wrong, she could just delete all the characters.  
"Hi Jennie!" Miral said, brightly.  
Jennifer waved at her and started the holodeck program. Tom and B'Elanna followed her through the doors wordlessly.  
"Hi," Jennifer said to the assistant currently waiting on them. "I have a reservation for four under the name Jennifer Iowae."  
The assistant looked at his reservation book, nodded and guided them to their table. They were given menus, but Jennifer promptly returned them, and ordered the daily special for everyone. She just wanted a chance to talk to them.  
"Miral," she said, "You realize that if you accept this mission, you'll be away for a long time, don't you?"  
Miral nodded, her little face solemn. "Yes, Jennie. But I know that it is very important to you that I do this. So I will."  
Jennifer bit her lip, and then smiled at Miral. "Thank you." She leaned closer to the little girl, and whispered, "If you go straight down that hall and turn left, you'll find something I think you'll like." Jennifer gestured towards a wide hall at the end of the room.  
Miral's face lit up and she skipped off in the direction of the hall.  
Jennifer turned to Tom, and tried not to look at B'Elanna, her expression serious. "Tom...B'Elanna. You asked to know the whole story. I've cleared it with Starfleet Headquarters, so I can tell you. When she discovers the temporal wormhole that will take her to 2781, she will not enter the universe that we know. She will enter a parallel dimension, one that runs alongside ours, but is a completely different world. She will run into herself. Because she previously did not have the skills she needed to do what needed to be done there, I live in the world that I live in...a world with time-travel, and temporal mechanics...a world of sophisticated technology, and high-speed ships...a world of power and alliances..."  
"Well...why do you want to change that, though?" B'Elanna cut in. "What is it about that world that you feel is insufficient for you?"  
"You don't understand." Jennifer took a deep breath. "Because Miral couldn't do what she had to do in the other dimension...because she didn't have to skill to do it...in 2781, both dimensions combined. The other dimension already had the technology, the alliances, the power. The people in my dimension never got the chance to discover that. They just, one day, they suddenly had it. They never really got the chance to accomplish what the other dimension had accomplished, not yet. They never had the chance to live the way they could have lived. Now, the discrimination runs high, we're on the brink of war, and guess who's being discriminated against?"  
"Now, wait a minute!" Tom said, "Are you blaming our daughter for the problems of your century?"  
Jennifer shook her head violently. "No, of course not! Miral? No! I'm blaming...Starfleet Headquarters, I guess, for not thinking of training her earlier? For not knowing what was going to happen? Myself, for not succeeding yet in convincing you, or killing myself on the way back? It's ironic, really. I've blamed almost everyone there is except Miral." She laughed, and then stopped. "But now...do you understand why it's so vital that she do this?"  
Tom looked at B'Elanna and nodded. "I guess so."  
"Thank you," said Jennifer, her eyes filled with gratitude. "You have no idea..." she shuddered, and tried again. "You have no idea what my world is like. It's awful. Miral is the only person who can save it. And I'm a little nervous about going back, because the last time we left...we died." She stopped talking, as if she was in sudden realization of what had happened, or maybe in shock.  
B'Elanna jumped to her feet. "Well, how do we know that won't happen again? How do we know we'll ever see Miral again?"  
"B'Elanna!" Tom said, placing a hand on her shoulder, almost warningly. Her switched his attention back to Jennifer. "How did you die?"  
"Pilot error," Jen replied bitterly. Tom flinched. "I flew into a nebula that wasn't a nebula. I just missed it on sensors because I was on a tight schedule...Starfleet was rushing me...and I...guess I didn't have the time to look properly," she said, trying to justify herself.  
Tom was sympathetic. Pilot error, he was familiar with. "I'm sure it wasn't as bad as you think."  
"Tom, shut up! Stop! Our daughter's going to die! Don't you understand?"  
"B'Elanna! You're overreacting! Jen died, and yet she's standing here in front of us. How is that possible, unless there was some way of bringing her...or Miral, for that matter...back?"  
B'Elanna was fuming, but sat down. "Tom, I can't believe you! You're supporting her? Why?"  
Tom's reply was short and simple. "I trust her."  
Jennifer sighed. B'Elanna would misinterpret that, too. But B'Elanna remained silent, nervously playing with a piece of string.  
"Fine. You're right. I'm sorry, Tom...Jen."  
Jennifer got up to leave. She turned back for a minute. "I have to orient Miral with the technology on my shuttle, and then the doctor needs to okay her for flight. I'll get her."  
She needed a cortical stimulant. She would get the doctor to give her one because yes, she had Vulcan blood in her, but generations of human ancestry (as opposed to the one rebellious Vulcan she was related to) had rid her of the ears, the eyebrows, and the tolerance for ten days without sleep.  
She went to get Miral so they could both go get their pre-flight checkups out of the way and she could get her cortical stimulant so she would stay awake...because she had to stay awake.  
Miral was enchanted by the petting zoo, and was standing next to a black, thoroughbred stallion.  
"Miral, sweetie, we have to go now, okay? The doctor is expecting us."  
"Okay."  
Jennifer slid back a small section of the barn wall to reveal a control panel. She beamed them to sickbay.  
The doctor was online and waiting with a cortical stimulator and a medical tricorder.  
"Ah, Jennifer, Miral. I was just waiting for you."  
"Hi, Doc!" Miral said, cheerfully. "I get to go on a trip with Jennie!"  
"Yes, you do," the doctor replied. "But first I have to do your checkup. Sit on the biobed, please!"  
Miral made a face, but did as she was told. The doctor scanned both her and Jennifer and found that they were both in perfect health.  
"Okay, Miral...you're as healthy as a chicken!" The doctor smiled at her, and she laughed. "Jen, get some rest. Doctor's orders."  
Jennifer looked at her. "Go wait for me by the shuttlebay, Miral."  
Miral ran off.  
"Is there something else you needed?" asked the doctor.  
Jennifer stood tall and looked him straight in the eye. "We're leaving in ten minutes."  
"You're what?"  
"Leaving," Jennifer replied calmly.  
"I thought you were going tomorrow?"  
"No...we're getting there tomorrow."  
The doctor's jaw dropped open. "Jennifer Iowae! You deliberately made it sound like you were leaving tomorrow!"  
"Yes, I did. Great observation, Doc. That's not why I'm here though."  
"Would you care to tell me why you're here then, Jen?"  
"I need a copy of your program to take with me. But I have to have your consent to take it."  
"Why do you need a copy of my program?"  
"I don't have an EMH. I mean, I can treat Miral if she gets hurt...I could perform endoplasmic surgery on Miral if I needed to, as long as I was okay. When I'm alone and I get hurt, what usually ends up happening is that I treat myself while I'm conscious and then I give myself a sedative for the pain. But if we both get hurt, then I can't do that...and chances are I won't be able to treat Miral for her injuries, either. I can update your program on all the latest technology before we leave."  
"Well..." the doctor sighed. "You're making it pretty hard to refuse. I mean, I know you can take care of yourself, but Miral...I'm not so sure."  
"Doctor. Please. I have never asked you for anything. And this is all I'm ever going to ask you for."  
He sighed. "Fine. Do you need to download it?"  
"No, I already have it. I just needed your permission to use it. Bye, Doc."  
The doctor looked at her. "Be careful, Jen. You're only sixteen, and you..."  
"...have your whole life in front of you. I know," Jennifer finished for him. "I'll be careful."  
The doctor laughed.  
"Will you say bye to Kathryn and Tom and B'Elanna and Tuvok and Neelix and Seven and Harry and Chakotay for me?"  
"Yes," said the doctor. "Now go! Go home, Jen, and relax for a while. See if you can do some sightseeing on the way. Stop at some nice nebulas...or something."   
"Sorry, Doc," Jennifer replied. "I'm on a tight schedule. I've got to go."  
"Hey! Remember what I told you. Get some rest; take some time off before your next mission. Doctor's orders."  
"Yes, sir!" Jennifer laughed and saluted the doctor, then turned and left without looking back.  
She reached the shuttle bay and found Miral waiting for her.  
Jennifer took Miral's hand. "Miral, come on. We're leaving."  
"Leaving?" asked Miral, with wide, teary eyes. "Now? I don't get to say goodbye to my mom and dad?"  
Although she was feeling immensely sorry for the little girl, Jennifer cursed under her breath. "I'm sorry, Miral. No. I'll let you contact them once we're on our way. Now...dry those eyes. You know how much ship works, right?"  
Miral nodded and wiped her eyes obediently.  
"When I get the cloaking system online, would you like to fly us off Voyager?"  
Miral's entire face lit up like a Christmas tree and she nodded eagerly. "Can I?"  
"Your dad's the best pilot on this ship...I think you just might have inherited that, Miral! Now come on."  
Ten minutes later, Jennifer's ship - which she referred to as Angie in private (it was actually the U.S.S. Avant-Garde, but as much as it fit it, Jennifer preferred Angie...derived from Angie's initials) - soared out of Voyager's long-range sensors' reach, with no complaints. When they were in temporal space and steadily moving forward, Jennifer used the specially configured comm. system to contact Voyager.  
"Voyager, this is the Avant-Garde, respond."  
Harry appeared on Jen's small viewscreen. "Voyager here. Jen? Where are you?"  
"Your sensors should confirm my answer: nowhere near Voyager. Sorry...I can't be too much more specific because my position is fluctuating."  
"What?" B'Elanna appeared behind Harry. "Jennifer, where is my daughter?"  
"Asleep," replied Jennifer. "She flew us out of the shuttlebay, and she did a pretty good job, too! Your sensors didn't pick up a thing! Anyway...I promised I'd let her talk to you, so I'll have to call you back later."  
"I thought you were going on a test flight?" Harry sounded slightly annoyed that he hadn't suspected anything.  
"You thought wrong, then, didn't you, Mr. Kim? Now...let me talk to Kathryn. I have to brief her on some details that are vital if I'm going to succeed."  
"She's asleep." Harry had a voice that screamed, I'm in control! "I'll tell her to-"  
"Harry," interrupted Jennifer.  
"What?"  
"Look at me. Then answer my question. Do I care?"  
"No ma'am. I'll put you through straight away."  
"Oh, and Harry?"  
"Yes?"  
"A secure line. No tricks."  
Jennifer waited patiently as Harry put her through to Kathryn. A few minutes later, she appeared, looking half-asleep.  
"Jennifer, what do you want?" she asked. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"  
"Okay, well, I'm going to answer those questions in reverse order, if you don't mind. First, no, I don't know what time it is, I'm traveling through temporal space, remember?"  
"How could I forget?" Kathryn rolled her eyes. "You remind me every chance you get."  
Jennifer ignored that comment. "And second, what do I want? I'm sending you some data on how to contact me if you need to, and things like that. Kathryn, I don't trust anyone else with it. I'm implanting it directly into your brain so that you can't access it unless I okay it."  
"You're doing what? Now wait just a minute..."  
"It's done. Toodles, Kathryn. Avant-Garde out."  
Jennifer ended the transmission. 


	4. Chapter 4

A few uneventful hours passed before Miral awoke. Jennifer didn't notice until she turned around to get herself another cortical stimulant.  
Miral was sitting on the biobed and diligently studying the panel on her right.  
"Miral?"  
Miral jumped.  
"Sorry," said Jen. "Did I startle you?"  
"Yes," replied Miral. "But it's okay. Can I talk to my parents now?"  
Jen nodded. "Would you like to comm. them yourself?"  
Miral absently tapped a few buttons on the panel she had been looking at.  
"What are you doing?"  
"I expanded the voice command system to recognize my voice as a senior officer's. So now, you don't have to be up all the time. Miral to Voyager."  
Jennifer stared in total astonishment as Tom popped up on the viewscreen. Miral bounced over.  
"Hi, Daddy!"  
"Miral!" exclaimed Tom.  
Jennifer moved away and napped while Miral chatted excitedly to her parents. However, her flashing panel awaked her a few minutes later. Jennifer cursed.  
"The twenty seconds I can get some sleep, you have to wake me up!" she scolded her ship. Then she saw what the computer had been trying to tell her. She cursed again. "Miral, sweetie, we're going to have to cut your conversation short, okay? There's a nebula off our port bow, and we need all available power to stop it from crushing us like a soda can...and I need your help. You're my acting first officer, remember?"  
Miral quickly said her goodbyes and went over to the Operations station. "This is where you wanted me, right?"  
Jennifer nodded. "I need you to activate the deflector and try to fight off some of those gases. Okay?"  
Miral successfully managed to stop the nebula from crushing the Avant-Garde...for a while.  
Jennifer contacted Starfleet Headquarters, trying her best to sound calm, and, for the most part, succeeding (all you have to do, she told herself, is play Kathryn Janeway in the middle of a Borg battle). "Starfleet, this is the Avant-Garde, respond."  
"Admiral Iowae, this is Ensign Xertév. What can I do for you?"  
"Ensign, get me Captain Dorflick. Now!"  
Ten seconds later, Philly Dorflick popped up on Jen's viewscreen. "Oh, my God! Jen! Okay...I promised Admiral G that I wouldn't ramble but...okay, guess what? I got promoted! To Admiral! Isn't that awesome? I guess with you gone, I was quiet enough to where they thought I could 'handle the responsibility'...or something. But I mean, big mistake. Big! I mean...responsibility? What responsibility? When Admiral Hadit told me, I said, I said, 'Jen Iowae doesn't have any responsibility...why should I?'...And you should have seen his face, Jen, it was so funny, I then knew why his name was Admiral Hadit. I mean, it was so totally obvious...he like, totally fit it! But, okay, I have been working kind of hard, though, I mean, I've been here every day, for one thing, and like, God, Jen, I've led...what? Like, three missions since you haven't been here, and like, okay, they couldn't not promote me to Admiral, I've been so great! Not to say that I'm not great when you're here, I mean, yeah right, but when you're here, I just, I don't know, I like to hang out and stuff and have fun, you know? Anyways, though...guess what else? I finally told that one guy, whatshisface, to like, go hang out with people his own rank. He was bugging the living hoo-has out of me, and I was like, we will not do that! Anyway again! I was at one of those totally cool admiral-only meeting dealies that you're always at, and like, it was so neat! Everyone was on a first name basis, and everything, and I was like, this is freaking awesome! But my point is, I was talking to Admiral G, and she was telling me that you called the other day to ask permission to tell someone about your mission? And I said, 'Christine, Jen would never call here unless her life depended on it,' and Admiral G said, 'Oh, but her life does depend on it,' and I thought that was pretty funny...but I didn't believe her, I mean, I know you wouldn't call unless you were in like, vital danger...oh, crap, Jen, I just now realized that the fact that I'm talking to you now proves that you're in vital danger, so like, okay, why don't you talk now?"  
"Thanks, Philly, that'd be good," said Jennifer, who had been patiently waiting for Philly to complete her...talking. "Okay. Here's the deal: I'm at this nebula..."  
"Is it pretty?"  
"It's beautiful. In fact, it's one of the most beautiful nebulas I've ever seen, and you know I've seen a lot of nebulas. Actually, you know what? I'm going to name it. I'm going to name it...um... Goëghenschweiler's Nebula."  
"Uh, Jen? I have like, the most cool-sounding name...do you mind?"  
"Philly, I love your name and all, I mean, it's one of the most awesome names I have ever heard, but I really don't think Dorflick sounds good with Nebula."  
"No!" Philly said, indignantly. "I mean, okay, listen...this really has a ring to it: The Nebula of Iowae."  
"I love it!" Jen exclaimed. "That's awesome! Yay! I get to record this now! Okay, so when I get back, you get a picture. Okay? Oh, my gosh, wow, I have my own nebula, this is awes...uh, Philly?"  
"That's me! Although, you know, my parents were actually considering calling me Nancy. But like, it doesn't fit...you know, I mean, then your parents suggested Philly, and they were like, yes! But okay...I can't believe they were going to call me Nancy...I mean, that's..."  
"Philly. Shut up for two seconds, please."  
"Okay."  
"My stupid sensors are telling me that the nebula already has a name."  
"Damned sensors," Philly sighed. "Okay. Well, what's the name?"  
"It's in Kazon. But, um, roughly translated it means the Nebula of Death."  
"Oh, my God! I would hate for my last name to be 'Death', wouldn't you? I mean, jeez! Oh, shoot, Jen? We're getting off track. And I just realized that Death means...death, not like, someone's last name...so that kind of explains why you are in vital danger. You're at a nebula called the Nebula of Death. Oh, my God! It's the nebula! It's the same nebula where you died last time! Isn't it? Isn't it, Jen? Okay...back on track. That's what Commander Jaexken would always tell me...back on track, Philly, back on track. You remember that? Okay. Now. What'd you need?"  
"Unfortunately so, Philly...on both counts. I need you to bring a small fleet of about twenty starships out here, please? In like, five minutes? So that I don't die...again?"  
"Twenty starships, five minutes...that's about...four starships a minute. I could do that. But how am I going to be on all of them?"  
"You're not!" Jennifer slapped her forehead. "You'll only be on the lead one. But hurry. Okay? Jen out."  
Jennifer ended the transmission. "Miral...just keep doing whatever you're doing, okay? You're doing great. Five minutes, that's all." 


	5. Chapter 5

Exactly five minutes later, five ships three times the size of Jennifer's tiny one popped up, it seemed, out of nowhere. A few seconds after that, she was contacted by the lead ship...the one with Philly on it.  
"Laugeais to Avant-Garde. This is Admiral Dorflick, respond."  
"This is Admiral Iowae of the Avant-Garde. My ship is not built to last in nebulas that want to crush it. Requesting permission to dock."  
"Granted. Laugeais out." Philly nodded and ended the transmission.  
Jennifer looked at Miral. "Come help me, Miral. Power down the warp core, but keep the deflector up until we dock in the Laugeais' shuttle bay. Otherwise, you know, we'll like, die."  
Jennifer prepared to dock her ship. "Okay, Angie," she muttered. "I swear...a few more minutes...that's all you need to keep this up for. Just...don't let that nebula get the better of you...show it what you're made of."  
A few minutes later, the Avant-Garde was firmly docked in the shuttle bay of the Laugeais, and showed no sign of going anywhere. Jennifer had to start on repairs as soon as she could, but before that, she wanted to talk to Philly.  
As she approached Philly's ready room, an Ensign - Ensign Taylor, if she recalled correctly - stopped her.  
"Excuse me...Admiral Iowae?"  
"Yes?" Jen looked over her shoulder.  
"Admiral Dorflick transported on to one of the other vessels when you were docking. Someone called for her with an urgent message for her to get back to Jupiter Station as soon as possible, so she left on another ship, so you would be able to dock. She said she'd see you when you got back. And she said that her instructions were for Miral Paris to be transported to the starship Asertyb, and that Captain Boyng would take her to the training center. She will be returned to you when she is ready to go home, and that you absolutely cannot go to the training center with her. Admiral Dorflick was very firm."  
Jennifer frowned. She wasn't exactly sure she wanted to trust Miral to Baulzgo Boyng. She had just recently been dating him, and after a while, she found that she couldn't stand him. So she had broken up with him about three months before she had left Jupiter Station to go find Voyager and Miral Paris.  
"He's just so blah, and like, boring, and like...blah! I mean, you'd think he'd have a little more bounce in him!" she had explained to Philly one evening. Philly had totally understood, too.  
But really, it was more than that. She disliked and distrusted him, and she was not about to let Miral be taken away by him.  
"No."  
"Admiral?" asked Ensign Taylor, looking worried.  
"No. I'm not going to allow Miral to be transported to the Asertyb, I'm sorry, Ensign. Who's in command of this vessel now?"  
"Captain Laurel, ma'am."  
"May I speak with her, or do you have an objection to that, as well?"  
Ensign Taylor smiled and shook his head. "She's in her ready room, ma'am."  
Jennifer proceeded into Captain Laurel's ready room. Ben Laurel was three times Jennifer's age and still a captain. They had known each other since Jennifer was seven (although she hadn't seen him since before she got promoted to admiral, and he had made no attempts to contact her), and while they hadn't been the best of friends at times, Jennifer tried her best to make sure that they were on good terms most of the time.  
Jennifer entered the ready room, and Captain Laurel stood up to greet her.  
"Admiral Iowae," he said coolly, "Let me be the first to welcome you aboard the Laugeais."  
"Too late, Captain," said Jennifer, laughing, "If you had wanted to do that, you should have met me at the shuttle bay."  
Captain Laurel smiled politely. "Well...how may I help you?"  
"I was wondering if I could, by any chance, use your comm. system to contact Starfleet command? There is something we need to discuss immediately."  
"My ready room is at your disposal," said Captain Laurel, waving his hand.  
Jennifer walked over to his desk and stared at him expectantly.  
"What?" he asked.  
"Captain. In case you haven't noticed, I'm on a highly classified mission. I don't think I'm going to make this call with you standing there."  
"Oh. Sorry." Captain Laurel shrugged and left the room.  
Jennifer sighed. "Oh, well. Screw him," she thought. "I tried to be nice."  
She tapped a few buttons to place the call to Starfleet. A few seconds later, Admiral Sarah Leroy, who was in command of the mission, popped up on Jennifer's screen.  
"Sarah!" exclaimed Jennifer, both surprised and shocked at the same time.  
"Do you like it?" asked Admiral Leroy, smiling widely and winking at Jennifer. She was seventy-four years old, refused to retire, was always full of life, was one of Jennifer's most trusted companions and peers... and now looked twenty.  
She now sported bouncy golden-brown, corkscrew curls that fell to just above her shoulders instead of the straight, shiny white hair that had fallen halfway down her back. Her eyebrows and eyelashes had also returned to their original color, and every wrinkle and scar that had ever graced her body (although they made her look wiser, as opposed to older) was now completely and totally gone, without leaving a trace.  
"It's great!" Jennifer said, raising her eyebrows slightly and laughing. "But personally, I didn't think you were the type who would go for DNA resequencing...I mean, what inspired you to do it?"  
"Allie," replied Admiral Leroy. She was referring to her nine-year-old granddaughter. "I was talking to her about a week before you left, and she asked me if I had been out in the sun too long. Because my hair was so light," she added.  
Jennifer had to laugh at Allie's logic. "But your hair...it's curly now...how does that work?" she asked.  
"My hair used to be naturally curly when I was younger," said Admiral Leroy. "I fell into a swimming pool while it was being cleaned when I was about twenty-five, and the chemicals caused all my hair to fall out. After that, it grew back straw-straight. It never occurred to me to get my DNA resequenced back then."  
"Wow," said Jennifer, in wonder. "How did they do it? Did they explain it to you? I mean, I've read about it in periodicals and logs, obviously, but I've never heard a firsthand story."  
Admiral Leroy nodded vigorously, causing her hair to jump springily around her face. "Actually, it was very simple. They sent me back to when I was twenty-ish, stuck me on a biobed, and sedated me. Then they deleted the aging hormone dealie from my DNA using one of those MC's - MedComputers, so that I wouldn't age, and they brought me back. The computer was kind of neat, because it's the same thing they use to treat a lot of genetic illnesses. It didn't take twenty minutes. It was really cool, actually, because I retained everything I had learned even after that."  
"But what about..." whispered Jennifer, "The 'M' word?"  
"Oh, that!" laughed Admiral Leroy. "That hormone, I told them to leave in. It would be so much of a nuisance for me to start getting it again. I'm actually quite happy with menopause. Anyway, Jennifer...there must be a reason you called me, I mean, I'm pretty sure from the look on your face when you saw me that you hadn't heard about my...how shall we put it? Rebirth? Second youth?"  
"There is, actually," said Jennifer, putting on her chitchat time is over look. "It's Captain Boyng, Sarah. I wouldn't trust him with a box of my chocolates, let alone Miral."  
"Transport her directly to me," Admiral Leroy replied. "And Jen? You and Philly take the rest of the day off. You've both earned a break. Go have some fun."  
"Thanks, Sarah. Iowae out."  
Jennifer decided to take advantage of having the night off and called her favorite salon - Viens Ici.  
"Hi, I need to make two appointments for seven tonight, please?"  
"Yes ma'am, may I have your names?"  
"I'm Jennifer Iowae, and my friend is Philly Dorflick."  
"Yes ma'am, what do you need?"  
"Oh, I don't know...manicure, pedicure, hair, facial, makeup, all with aromatherapy...the works."  
"Yes ma'am, do you require a waxing treatment?"  
"No, I don't think so."  
"Yes ma'am, and the same for your friend?"  
"Yes."  
"Yes ma'am. We do have a special...if you get two or more treatments, which you are, we can have our girls come to your house and give you the treatments there."  
"That would be wonderful."  
"Yes ma'am, your appointment is at seven. If our girls are not there promptly at seven, everything is on the house."  
"Thanks so much," said Jennifer, readying herself to end the transmission.  
"Yes, ma'am."  
Jennifer ended the transmission. She glanced at Earth time on her screen. It read 9:18 a.m. Then she placed a new transmission, this time to her personal shopper.  
"Hi, this is Jen Iowae, is Vivian around?" Jennifer asked the old man who answered the comm. call.  
"Please hold while I transfer your call," he replied.  
A few seconds later, Vivian popped up on Jennifer's screen. Her whole face lit up when she saw Jennifer, and she squealed, "Jennifer! You're alive! When do you need an appointment, I can fit you in anytime."  
Jennifer grinned. "That's good to know...I need an appointment for me and my best friend, Philly, today at three."  
Vivian looked down at the PADD she was holding and wrote down Jennifer's name. "Great! See you then!"  
"Jen out."  
Jennifer ended the transmission, and then called Philly.  
"Iowae to Dorflick," she said.  
"Dorflick here," came Philly's voice. "Well, I mean, I'm not completely here today, I'm a little bit off, but then, you know, I guess you could say, when am I like, not a little bit off, you know? I'm always a little bit off, that's what makes me Philly. Maybe I should have said, Dorflick here, but only physically - not mentally...or something to that effect. That would have kind of made more sense, wouldn't it? But, you know, I said what I said. Maybe I should talk to Starfleet command about how we're supposed to answer our calls. I mean, it doesn't really make sense to say you're there if you're only physically there, you know? Sheesh! Anyway, though...sorry, Jen, I'm rambling again. I can't help it though! Do you remember when our third grade teacher tried to stop me from rambling? It was so funny! I thought that was a little weird. I mean, she was boring...and I didn't try to stop her from being boring. That'd just be odd. You can't try to stop someone from doing something that they just naturally do, you know? I mean, sheesh! Okay, well, what'd you need, Jen?"  
Jennifer was a little surprised. The voice almost seemed to come from behind her...  
She spun around.  
"Philly!"  
Philly stood by the door, a huge smile on her face. Jennifer ran over to her and gave her a big hug, then pretended to try and throttle her. Philly pushed her off, laughing. "Itchybay!" she exclaimed. "You promised me that you'd contact me when you got there so I'd know you weren't dead! Tyler and I were worried! And you know how Tyler gets when he's worried...I mean-"  
"Tyler was worried about me?" asked Jennifer, cutting her off. "Tyler Henaew?"  
Philly looked hurt for a minute that Jennifer had interrupted what could have become a perfectly good ramble, but she thought better of it, and instead, launched into a new one. "Yes, Tyler Henaew, he's like, in love with you, Jen, seriously. I mean, wow! You have got to talk to him! He's like, really cute too, he has that cute, curly brown hair, and the velvety brown eyes, and the broad shoulders, you know, the whole deal! Personally, Jen, I think you should totally go for it; it'd be so cute! I mean, whoa! If you don't take this opportunity, I will, but Jennifer, he's my friend, and I think it'd be weird if...well, you know. You don't do stuff like that. You just...don't! But Jennifer! What do you think?"  
"I think you need to stop talking about Tyler like he's a mission that I need to accept. He's a person, with feelings, and I am, too, and having said that, I think after tonight, I'll ask him to go to dinner."  
Philly's eyes widened, and a grin slowly spread across her face. "You like him!"  
Jennifer rolled her eyes and laughed. "I haven't talked to him since we were, what? Twelve? I don't know if I like him. I haven't seen him for like, ever, and ever, so you know."  
"I have a holo-photo!" exclaimed Philly, her entire face lighting up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, my God, you're going to love this guy, Jen! And you're going to get married! Jen, if you get married, do I get to be your maid of honor? Do you remember when we were both little and we used to pretend we were getting married? I would wear that yellow dress, and you would wear your midnight blue dress, and we would use veils from like, bride dolls? Getting back on track...after you get married, you'll have kids, and I'll be their godmother because we promised that when we were like, nine, and-"  
"Philly," Jennifer said, quietly, trying to interrupt while not sounding like she was interrupting.  
"And we can watch them grow up...you always said you wanted three kids, all girls...what did you say you would call them? Angie, Strawberry, and Ivy? And it would be so neat, because we could take them on all our missions and stuff, you know...and yeah...but like..."  
"Philly!" yelled Jennifer. "I am not getting married, yet! In fact, I haven't even...freaking...talked to the guy yet! Calm down! Oh, my God! Jeez...now listen to me: we are going to be late to our appointment unless we leave now. Can we take a shuttle?"  
"I think we can pull off taking a shuttle. Don't you want to take the Avant-Garde?"  
"Do you think Miral's finished the repairs yet?"  
"With her," said Jennifer, "Anything's possible." 


End file.
